Author Archives: energyskeptic

Food peak production yet 3 billion more babies by 2050

Posted on April 10, 2025 by

Preface. Also see related article Limits to Growth? 2016 United Nations report provides best evidence yet. Nichols (2015) below shows that climate change is already affecting harvests of the world’s top 10 crops that comprise 83% of our calories: barley, … Continue reading →

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Chemical industrial farming does not work: Pests evolve immunity quickly

Posted on April 3, 2025 by

Pesticides, herbicides, and insecticides destroy soil and ecosystems. Yet a third of crops are lost to pests just as in the many millennia of farming before chemicals Preface. This is a book review of Dyer’s “Chasing the Red Queen”, and … Continue reading →

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Trump & Project 2025 want to destroy energy efficiency & raise your utility bills

Posted on March 26, 2025 by

Source: (NYT 2017, LBL 2025) The Department of energy (DOE) under Chris Wright is proposing to get rid of energy efficiency standards that have saved consumers over 1.5 trillion dollars (CFA 2017). The average American home saves $321 a year … Continue reading →

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The only congressional hearing on Peak Oil was in 2005

Posted on March 20, 2025 by

Preface. This U.S. House hearing happened 20 years ago, but it is still a good introduction to why oil is so important to society. At this hearing scientific experts spoke, warning that we will reach peak oil within decades (which … Continue reading →

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Tom Murphy Stubborn Expectations (on population)

Posted on March 13, 2025 by

U.N.Total fertility rate projections Preface. Tom Murphy has one of the best blogs on limits to growth, peak everything and more from the point of view of math and physics called Do The Math. Tom Murphy is a professor emeritus … Continue reading →

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NIMBY Hydrogen production

Posted on March 6, 2025 by

Preface.  Across America groups are opposing new hydrogen production, mainly funded by $8 billion of government hydrogen hub (H2Hubs) money. The main reasons are a lack of transparency, pollution, and that most hydrogen would cause even more drilling since it … Continue reading →

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Can Geothermal power replace declining fossil fuels?

Posted on February 27, 2025 by

Preface. Today the electric grid stays up because of months of backup power from natural gas, coal, and uranium.  Most of all natural gas because it can quickly balance wind and solar as they suddenly appear or die out. Natural … Continue reading →

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Telling others about peak oil and limits to growth

Posted on February 20, 2025 by

Preface. Obviously the planet is finite. We’re using many times more oil than we’re discovering, and therefore at some point global oil production will peak and decline.  In fact, global conventional and unconventional oil production peaked in 2018 and conventional … Continue reading →

Posted in Critical Thinking, Limits To Growth, Peak Oil | Tagged , , , , | 9 Comments

Why coal was only created once

Posted on February 13, 2025 by

Preface.  Coal only formed once on Earth over hundreds of millions of years because they had lignin and cellulose that microbes hadn’t yet evolved to consume. Eventually they did, and today termites, cows and other creatures are able to digest … Continue reading →

Posted in Biofuels, Coal | Tagged , , , | 6 Comments

Failed Nations

Posted on February 6, 2025 by

Preface.  This is the Fund for Peace Fragile States Index. The “Download data in excel” column has years 2006 to 2023. In 2007, there were 17 nations (of 179) more stable than the USA: Singapore Portugal Netherlands Japan Luxembourg Austria … Continue reading →

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